This invention relates to cigarette holders for protecting both against fire and environmental pollution from smoke.
Many devices have been proposed for protecting against fires started by the burning tip of a cigarette. Representative of such devices are those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,821,267, 2,499,733, 2,625,163 and 4,289,149. The most effective designs are those which do not provide direct or straight line openings between the burning tip of the cigarette and the environment, but the more tortuous the path, the more difficult it becomes to maintain a sufficient air supply to maintain combustion. In addition to fire hazards cigarette smoke is a serious polluter of the atmosphere. Even in the case of filtered cigarettes, the filter portion essentially protects the smoker by filtering out certain contaminants from the smoke actually drawn in by the smoker. The majority of the time, however, the cigarette is free burning so that totally unfiltered products of combustion permeate the atmosphere directly from the burning tip.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a cigarette holder which protects against fires by isolating the burning cigarette or bits thereof which might separate from the cigarette and which filters substantial portions of the products of combustion discharged to the atmosphere.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cigarette holder which automatically extinguishes the cigarette when it reaches a predetermined butt length, and which in addition provides for automatic extinguishment at any point along its length by the action of the smoker.
Another object of the invention is to provide a substantially closed cigarette holder in which the flow of air through the unit provides cooling of critical exposed parts of the holder.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cigarette holder which effectively contains all of the ash particles which fall from the burning tip of the cigarette.